Solinair outlines Air Slovenia plans
Cargo operator Solinair has outlined its proposal for the creation of a new national carrier in Slovenia at a public consultation attended by both the government and industry stakeholders. The CEO of the cargo airline, Janez Jelenc, said Solinair is seriously considering establishing the country’s new national carrier under the name Air Slovenia. According to Mr Jelenc, now is the right time to set up a new airline as larger carriers are withdrawing from markets and shrinking their operations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “We conducted a study on how much it would cost to set up an airline and we estimate it would be close to five million euros”, Mr Jelenc said. He added that aircraft such as the Mitsubishi CRJ900, Dash 8 Q400 and the ATR72 turboprop would be ideal for the Slovenian market. The company would have a four to five member fleet.
Solinair has already held talks with the Slovenian government over the potential creation of a new national carrier and expects some sort of financial assistance from the state, which is still undecided whether it should fund a new airline or provide subsidies to incentivise foreign carriers to fly to Ljubljana. Mr Jelenc noted that Solinair would seek an agreement with the Lufthansa Group for the new airline to take over their routes to Ljubljana, including Lufthansa’s flights from Frankfurt and Munich, Swiss’ from Zurich and Brussels Airlines’ service from the Belgian capital. In addition, Air Slovenia would link Ljubljana with Amsterdam, Skopje, Tirana and Pristina.
Attending the debate, Ljubljana Airport again expressed its support for the government to provide subsidies to airlines rather than invest funds into a new flag carrier. Last November, the Slovenian state-owned Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC) drafted a business plan for the country’s potential new national airline. Under the proposal, the carrier would reportedly operate a fleet of five CRJ aircraft and count some 200 employees. Based on the Assets Management Company’s calculations, the airline was estimated to record a twenty million euro loss in its first year of operations. The Slovenian Economy Minister, Zdravko Počivalšek, said last month, "I'm optimistic that we'll find a solution which will better connect Slovenia with the world by improving its air connectivity, and as part of this, I believe we will find an adequate and EU-compatible solution to encourage airlines. We will opt for a solution that will best connect Ljubljana with destinations that are important to us in terms of business such as Brussels, Frankfurt and Zurich”.
Solinair was established in 1991 as a flight training organisation and air taxi operator based in Portorož. Over time it acquired Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft and partnered up with DHL to provide cargo services. It has since relocated to Ljubljana. It currently operates a fleet of two Airbus A300-600 freighter jets. In 2008 it was acquired by Turkish cargo operator MNG Airlines. Solinair also provides maintenance services, maintenance training and flight planning.
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